Vienna, Part 5 - outside the city, May 7

 Another lovely and sunny day.
 We took the car out of the car park. (Another challenge as the ticket kept getting rejected! But...got it solved.)

   We drove north of the Danube first, visiting the town of Krems, a town of about 25,000, about 40 miles west of Vienna. We walked the pedestrianized area of town, shared hot pretzels and had a coffee.

     From there, we drove to beautiful, picturesque village of Durnstein, after a detour to a farm with donkeys (by accident!). Durnstein is well-visited by tour boats, but it wasn't that busy when we were there. There is a ruined castle above the town where Richard the Lion-hearted was held captive in the 1100s. It was a steep hike, only tackled by Michael and Mark. They had great views from the top.

    Nancy and Barbara stayed in town and sat by the Danube watching boats, ferries, bikers and hikers. The area is known for wines and for apricots and there were apricot jams and liquors for sale in numerous places.
    By this point, it was mid-afternoon and we were all ready to eat. We ended up at a cafe on the Danube in Spitz. Three of us had asparagus soup. Mark also had a sausage and Michael had some spaetzel. Afterwards, we split a cake.

     From there we drove along the Danube to Melk. But, it was getting late and it was impossible to drive up to the monastery, so we got on the highway and drove home, getting back around 6 p.m.

     Later we wandered back to the Opera House hoping that the Barber of Seville would be televised in the square, but it wasn't. (They don't televise every performance.) So, we people watched and then went to the Naschmarkt and had some Thai food.